Shelgarn's could become a Second Circle spell instead of a First Circle Spell, or even a Third akin to Animate Dead. You could animate any weapon as before, and rather than just have a very long duration, instead be semi-persistent as in the name and work similar to raising the dead, which will last until killed or a reset. Animators who focus on Shelgarn's studies could be rewarded with certain FOIG/EIG weapons.
Spell Focus - Evocation (The School of Creation) would reduce the cost of animation by 25%.
Greater Spell Focus - Evocation would reduce the cost of animation by 50%.
They should share the same summoning points for animation, separated into weapon size categories. Tiny weapons should cost less, and weapons like two-handed weapons and double-bladed weapons (as they'll have an extra APR) should cost the most.
They can be enhanced in the same way undead can, with the formula being; Spellcraft + Lore + EFUSS Tinkering + (G)SF Evocation.
As animating weapons is not as taboo as necromancy, they definitely should not be as strong and should have a medium AB progression (+3/4).
This would give players that like to focus on Shelgarn's as a nice little gimmick a bit more of an edge, without it being OP. Those without conjuration will then have a nice little boon to give them flavour and also make it a bit easier to survive, always having a persistent summon with you. You also won't have to stuff your bag with a thousand sickles! Lol.
Is this a change that would be possible? I think it would be a lot of fun and very cool, and could lead to other things such as studying golems and such.
I agree. One of the things that turns me off of Shelgarn's is that I need 1,000 weapons in my bag...
I'm not sure if this would be possible, but- if an undead is killed and you gave it a weapon, it leaves remains so you can pick it back up. If defeated animated weapons could have the same effect where you can pick it back up after, that would be awesome.